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We are seeing it a bit often in #yii that people ask meta-questions ("Can I ask a question?" / "Can I ask something regarding ...?") or randomly privmsg people. I've got the feeling that the majority of those are attracted by the IRC applet (which would imply that they know little to nothing about how things work in IRC).

While #yii is still a nice place to hang out, the behaviour described above does have its impact. It would be great if the following things could be stressed out more clearly in the introdutional text:

Most of the people in #yii are volunteers. They are no employees of Yii Software LLC and are thus not required to give an answer, no matter how much under pressure or impatient someone is. (Admittedly, this rarely ever happens. But it should be said)

It is considered rude to start private conversations with someone unless they've given you permission. Also: Asking just a random person in a private conversation because they seem to be active in the channel actually lowers the chance of receiving a meaningful answer.

Instead of asking to ask just ask. Worst that could happen is that nobody reacts

If a question isn't answered right away, one of the following reasons may apply:

Everybody is busy

The question is incomprehensible

The answer is requiring knowledge on an extension nobody in the channel uses

The problem is trivial but the questioner asked in a way that implies s/he doesn't deserve an answer (in other words: ask politely)

General support for PHP is given in ##php, trolls belong into #gentoo

This is also an invitation to all idlers on FreeNode to come and join #yii

programmer /ˈprəʊgramə/, noun: a device that converts ►coffee into ►code